If You Don't Want to, Then Don't

Thump thump... thump thump...

Heartbeats pounded like a drum.

If there were only two heartbeats before, now there were three. Ye Shu's heart beat uncontrollably and violently. He pressed closely against Medusa's belly, afraid it was just his illusion.

But it wasn't.

There were two sounds, truly two distinct heartbeats.

Boom!

This discovery was nothing short of a bolt from the blue, shocking Ye Shu to his core.

He stared intently at the smooth, white belly beneath him, his gaze complex.

He couldn't say if he was happy, nor could he say he was sad.

There was only a sense of absurdity.

Having lived two lives, this was the first time he had his own bloodline. This filled his heart with indescribable emotions—sour, bitter, yet carrying a trace of inexplicable sentiment.

For a moment, tears actually shimmered in his eyes.

He gently stroked Medusa's fair and smooth lower abdomen, muttering softly over and over again, "I'm going to be a father... I'm going to be a father..."

Medusa was startled by his teary-eyed appearance, getting goosebumps all over. She quickly raised her fair, jade-like leg and kicked him twice.

"What are you going crazy about, you bastard? This is too perverted!"

Being subjected to such sudden insults, Ye Shu wasn't angry.

He raised his head, his voice trembling, "We have a child. You have our child in your belly."

"Huh? What did you say?"

Medusa looked incredulous, almost unable to believe her ears.

"It's true."

Ye Shu pointed at her lower abdomen. "If you don't believe me, listen. I clearly heard two heartbeats. Aside from you, it can only be our child."

"Heartbeats?"

Medusa was stunned at first, then burst into loud laughter.

"No, is there something wrong with your brain? We only just did it four days ago. Even if I were pregnant, it would be impossible to have a heartbeat for you to hear so quickly. It would take at least ten days to half a month for a fetus to form."

"Wh-what?"

Ye Shu froze.

"Then what was the heartbeat I heard?"

"Giggle, you still don't believe it when I call you an idiot, do you?"

Medusa laughed so hard she trembled like a flower branch. It was rare to see a smart person like Ye Shu act so foolishly, so much so that she even forgot her current predicament.

"That is This Queen's Nascent Soul."

"Nascent Soul?" Ye Shu was completely dumbfounded.

"That's right." Medusa raised her chin, looking as if it were a matter of course. "If This Queen were pregnant, would This Queen not know? Stop joking..."

"Guh—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Medusa's laughter suddenly came to a screeching halt, and the expression on her face instantly stiffened.

Because just a moment ago, she felt an extremely faint aura of life from her belly. It did not belong to the Nascent Soul, nor did it belong to herself; it was intertwined with the shared aura of Ye Shu and her.

"Th-this is impossible."

Medusa's face instantly turned deathly pale.

Seeing this, Ye Shu's heart skipped a beat. "You aren't really..."

"Shut up!"

Medusa glared fiercely at Ye Shu.

"How could This Queen possibly be pregnant with your lowly seed? This Queen merely sensed it wrong!"

Saying that, she calmed her mind and sensed carefully.

However, no matter how she sensed it, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, that faint aura of life was solidly rooted in her womb. It even began to absorb the spiritual energy within her body to strengthen itself. Its greedy appearance was exactly the same as its cheap father.

"N-no way... I'm really pregnant..."

"Pregnant with this little beast's seed..."

Even though she had anticipated this, when reality struck, Medusa still felt a wave of dizziness. Her body went soft, and she almost fell to the ground.

Fortunately, Ye Shu supported her in time, preventing any harm to the fetus.

"Are you alright?"

"I..."

Medusa leaned into the crook of his arm, staring blankly at his face full of concern. Her eyes suddenly grew wet, and two lines of clear tears slowly slid down her exquisite cheeks.

She suddenly threw herself onto Ye Shu's shoulder, biting down hard on it, her eyes blurred with tears. "You bastard! You bastard! Why! Why is it that even though I did my best to avoid this ending, why... why couldn't I escape it..."

"Wu wu wu... wu wu..."

Ye Shu grimaced from her bite, but he still didn't push her away, letting her vent her emotions.

"Shu'er..."

Hiding inside the ring, Danxia felt a bit uncomfortable in her heart. Another woman was pregnant with her man's seed, and it was something she had a hand in. It felt bizarre just to say it out loud.

She didn't even have anywhere to direct her blame.

"It's fine."

Ye Shu gently waved his hand.

At this moment, he was unexpectedly calm, just silently holding Medusa and patting her back.

"It's okay, it's okay."

After an unknown amount of time, seeing that the crying on his shoulder had stopped.

Ye Shu finally let go. Instead, he held Medusa's shoulders with both hands and said softly:

"If you don't want this child, then abort it."

Medusa, who was just preparing to accept her fate, froze. She raised her head, thinking she had heard wrong.

"Y-what did you say?"

"If you don't want it, then don't have it," Ye Shu repeated expressionlessly.

Medusa's pupils shrank.

She could tell that Ye Shu was serious.

But why?

"This is a living life. She is your child, your own flesh and blood."

"You actually want to kill her?"

Medusa looked at Ye Shu in shock.

Even though she thought she was cold-blooded enough, in front of this man, she could only concede defeat.

She simply couldn't understand how a mouth of thirty-seven degrees could utter such freezing words.

"Shu'er, are you crazy?"

Even Danxia felt a wave of disbelief. She found that her Shu'er could always suddenly deliver an extremely cold line at the most tender moments.

"I'm not crazy."

Ye Shu's expression was incredibly serious, showing no hint of a joke. "I am very clear-headed right now, more clear-headed than I have ever been."

He faced Medusa directly, speaking word by word:

"If you do not want her, then ending her is the best choice, because she was never the outcome you desired. She is an accident, an unawaited mistake."

"Rather than letting her be born into a family where she is not wanted, it is better to not let her come into this world from the very beginning. In the future, when she asks how she came to be, how would you answer?"

"This is a complete and utter mistake."

"And mistakes need to be corrected."

Ye Shu's eyes were cold and ruthless, without the slightest mercy.

Seeing that Medusa was still hesitating, he continued, "If you feel a sense of guilt about killing her, then there is really no need. A newly formed embryo cannot even be considered a complete life. She has no consciousness, no memory, and no sense of pain."

"This is not murder, but a salvation."

Ye Shu said lightly, "A child never has the right to choose to be born, yet we hold the right to decide whether she is born or not. This is inherently unfair."

"So, if you don't want her, then don't have her."

"I clearly know that you do not like me."

"So do not keep her just because of some so-called guilt, false worldly responsibilities, or the notion that life is paramount. The child is innocent; she should not become a sacrifice to your so-called moral concepts."

"Of course."

Seeing that Medusa's mood was a bit off, Ye Shu changed his tone. "I am not saying we absolutely must kill this child."

"If you truly want to keep her, then keep her."

"What I hope is that you don't keep her reluctantly, only to carry that reluctance for the rest of your life."

"It would be unfair to the child."

"She has no reason to bear the brunt of your unhappiness."

"Naturally, if you do want to keep this child, then I will shoulder my responsibility as a father and take care of both mother and daughter."

"You don't need to worry about me being unwilling. After all, raising a child with a beauty like you isn't something I'd be reluctant to do. In fact, I am quite willing."

Though he said this, his expression revealed nothing.

He looked almost like a puppet.

Cold, and completely expressionless.

"Take responsibility?" Medusa sneered, as if she had just heard the greatest joke in the world. "Do you think This Queen doesn't know? About your relationship with that woman named Xue something."

"What exactly will you use to take responsibility for This Queen?"

"Do you think This Queen is the kind of woman who loses her sense of direction just because a man coaxes her with a few casual words?"

Mocked by her, Ye Shu did not get angry.

"I will handle Lin Qingxue's matter myself. You don't need to worry about it."

"The question now is whether you want this child or not. If you want to keep the child, I will fulfill my duties as a father and take responsibility for both of you."

"If you don't want her, get rid of her."

"As for your lost innocence."

Ye Shu pointed at the bloodstains on the ground. "If you wish, I can take responsibility for you as well."

Having said that, Ye Shu looked at Medusa with a clear and open gaze.

For some reason, Medusa actually felt a bit bashful under his stare. She awkwardly turned her face away, not daring to look at him.

"W-who wants you to take responsibility?"

"This Queen certainly doesn't need you to take responsibility."

"If that is the case," Ye Shu said coldly, "then get rid of the child."

"I...!"

Medusa opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.

A momentary silence fell between the two.

Ye Shu said no more. He just waited silently, leaving all the time in the world for Medusa to make her choice.

He was always like this, throwing the choice onto others.

A long while passed.

Medusa lowered her head, gently stroking her lower abdomen, her voice very light. "The father of This Queen's child must be an indomitable hero, an unparalleled heaven-defying genius the likes of which has never been seen throughout the ages."

The sun was setting in the west, the dying rays as red as blood.

Ye Shu's answer was—

"I can be."